1. Business Retention and Expansion
Red Flag Review

2. BR&E Response Team
The Response Team can be a unique aspect of a continuous/segregated BR&E Visitation Program
Its primary responsibility is to assist with red and yellow flag issues that cannot (or should not) be handled by the BR&E organization’s Operations Team and the development, implementation and follow-up of recommendations
Response Team members will be composed of outside agencies that have specific expertise in the problems being faced by the business

3. BR&E Response Team
IMPORTANT: The business should always sign off on bringing third parties into the BR&E process
The Operations Team should have an “asset map” of the names of agencies/organizations and the names of their associated professionals that are competent to serve on the Response Team
Develop supporting materials such as the Red Flag Review Points, the Appendix F Follow-up Suggestions and the Red Flag Follow-up Worksheet in order to have a systematic method of dealing with these concerns/issues

4. Diversity of Response Team Members
You will likely need a diverse set of team members to deal with these types of issues. These could include:
Business Leaders
Development Professionals
Local Government Officials
Technical Assistance Providers
Education/Workforce Development Leaders
Other Key Community Leaders
Remember that the key is timeliness in addressing issues

5. BR&E Visitation Process and Flags
BR&E visitation involves a multi-tiered process that should include the task force/economic developer, a survey analyst, the industry/ sector being addressed and the community
After survey instruments have been completed, they should be reviewed by the Account Executive (perhaps in consultation with other members of the Operations Team) to identify any red or yellow flags that should be addressed
Red flags are issues identified by businesses that should be addressed immediately
Yellow flags are issues that are definitely important, but timeliness is not as critical as with red flags
The research process should help provide an overview of the current mindset of businesses in the community. Obviously, analysis of this mindset will depend on the type of business being targeted (retail, service, manufacturing, etc.) and the type of methodology that will be used to choose the businesses that will be surveyed.
While the general consensus for implementing a BRE visitation program is to determine the overall state of the current business environment and to influence local policy to address challenges in this environment, if appropriate, a second, but equally important, short run goal is to identify immediate challenges faced by specific businesses that could potential cause worker layoffs or even plant closures if not addressed. In many cases, businesses volunteer information on these issues to the survey administrators because, as has been discussed earlier, the visits by the BRE team is probably one of the few times that a community or business development entity has actually listened to their concerns.
In the typical BRE parlance, these issues are called “flags.” Red flags are those issues to which immediate attention must be devoted to stave off undesirable consequences such as layoffs or plant closures. Yellow flag issues are just as important, but do not have to be dealt with immediately.

6. Red/Yellow Flag Review Process
Completed survey instruments should be quickly, but thoroughly, scanned by the Account Executive and, perhaps, the Operations Team, to identify timely issues
Instruments should be examined with the following in mind:
What issues identified by businesses stand out?
Who are potential partners that could assist in addressing needs?
What potential projects/programs could be used to address future issues?
Remember that you will be dealing with specific issues that are being faced by the business.
Programs that address these types of issues are great, but make sure that the issue can be addressed in a timely manner
Once the survey instruments are completed and returned to the BRE core team, they should be reviewed quickly by the core team or a subset of that team in order to identify any of these flag issues that should be addressed. Ideally, this group should consist of local business leaders, university economic development faculty, local economic developers, lay citizens and state economic development agency personnel.
The questions contained in the survey instrument should allow for this slide’s questions to be answered. However, you must remember that the composition of your team and the partners that the team builds relationships with will determine the success of identifying and dealing with flag issues.

7. Red Flag Review Exercise
Using the sample completed survey, complete the “Red and Yellow Flag Follow-Up Worksheet” and the “Follow- up Suggestions and Red Flags” worksheet (Appendix F)
Homework:
Identify red flags, yellow flags, information requests.
Identify programs and persons from your state or local area who are likely to be able to assist in addressing the identified issues.

8. Green Flags
Green flags are areas of opportunities that businesses encounter that must be addressed in a short time frame
While often ignored, these issues are often as important as red or yellow flags
Issues could include workforce development strategies, infrastructure needs, local policy decisions, etc.
Just as an asset map would be useful when dealing with red or yellow flags, developing an asset map of likely green flag issues could prove valuable in dealing with businesses

9. Questions

10. Creative Commons License
This work carries an attribution non-commercial share alike license.
Trained and certified instructors by BREI or the Cooperative Extension System are allowed to remix, tweak, and build upon this work non-commercially, as long as they credit the North Dakota State University Extension Service and they must license their new creations under the identical terms. This work can be downloaded and redistributed, but all new work based on this work must carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature.